A Love Remains Unspoken
by Willow Wildfire
Summary: [On Hold as of 26 August] It finally hit me. It was time to move on, so I did. But if I told you I didn't care about the bitter pain I saw in his eyes, I'd be lying. [VinTif]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Woo! My first Vincent - Tifa fic! Man do I feel weird, xx It's always been CloTi for me. But for some reason I started to like VinTif lately. I mean... I still love CloTi, but I don't mind Tifa and Vincent fics anymore. I'm just giving this VinTif of mine a shot. I have no idea how it's going to be so puh-leaase!... Give me some feedback and let me know what you think of it. All you gotta do is put the small review button and type some letters in a box! Hehe. Enjoy the fic.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Final Fantasy VII, there would be a big ass CloTi make out scene in it. Which isn't the case, so guess what. I don't own it. Except the game I payed for. o.O

**Final Fantasy VII**

******A Love Remains Unspoken ..:  
****V**in**T**if  
**By: **_T.Lockheart_

_Maybe I just need to let this go. So many times I've tried, failed, broken my heart, over one and the same guy. I love him. More than I could ever love anyone or anything. But this love of mine, remaining unspoken, won't ever be returned by the man I love. I can't tell you if his heart belongs to another woman, or if he saw her just as a friend. A friend. Like how he sees me. I'm not sure at all. We have been through so much together, sure, that gives your friendship a special bond. And maybe I'm closer to him than anyone else, but I'm not the one he wants. At least I don't think I am. I wish I wasn't so shy with these things. I'm never shy... But around him, I'm just... Scared. I don't even know ho to explain it. It's not that I'm scared of rejection. I'm scared of losing a friend. Love isn't worth risking to lose a friend. My best friend, at that. He's everything I have left from my childhood. Saved my life many times, was always there for me. I am no one without him. The man of my dreams... Cloud Strife. He's the only reason that keeps my heart beating.  
__------  
_The sun was shining bright outside the new bar of Tifa Lockheart. There were no clouds up in the sky, and the once so dark town, Nibelheim, had completely changed when Avalanche put some effort in it. They had made the town brand new. Restored houses, gave it some color, and actually got people to move into Nibelheim again. Tifa ran a whole new bar, called Sixth Fate.

She decided that if everyone was going to make a new start, it was time for her to leave the old bar behind as well. Even though it felt weird, and she often made the mistake to write down 'Tifa's 7th Heaven' on papers, this new bar was a beauty. She put alot of effort in getting it the way it was now. It wasn't too different from how the 7th Heaven looked. The actual bar was still at the back, but instead of having a few tables and stairs in the left corner as you entered, there were tables and wall couches, and chairs all around the bar Tifa stood behind. The counter, where Tifa was, led a door upstairs now. Where Tifa had placed her furniture and all her stuff, that was where she lived. The elevator, the 7th Heaven had downstairs didn't show at the Sixth Fate. She had a real house above her bar now. And was quite pleased with it. It even had some chairs and tables to sit outside on warm days like these.

Vincent also moved back into Nibelheim. After, Barret, Tifa, Cloud, Red, Cid, him, and Cait Sith had cleaned up Nibelheim, him and Tifa got to work on the Nibelheim mansion. Vincent just wanted a place he felt comfortable in. And knowing Vincent, he wasn't exactly the colorfull type. So Tifa gave him a hand getting the place to look nice on Vincent's way. It surprised everyone how Tifa had style. After all, they had only really seen her as the steel fist martial artist. Vincent's house, was now nicely decorated with black and red-ish furniture. Dark wooden closets, table, chairs, and black carpet in every room, with suiting black/ red curtains. Tifa had told him, if he wanted it to be dark colors instead of bright, he had to at least made it feel comfy. Instead of how some people got this cold aura in their house. And she succeeded. Vincent got what he want. Dark colors, yet a comfortable feeling when you walked in.

Barret and Marlene moved to the pilot's town. Also the town where Cid still lived. Rocket Town. The reason why Barret did it wasn't sure. He didn't know either, but like everyone else he said it was good to start over. And Marlene was always cheering when she saw the HighWind arrive. The little girl always stared at it in amazement. The old pilot liked the girl's reaction. He was telling her stories about how he traveled into outer space with Tifa and Cloud. Marlene always asked him to take her there once to. Cid wasn't complaining, Tifa wasn't worried. She knew Marlene grew up with Barret's rough way of speaking. Knowing Cid was the same the little girl was used to it. Tifa tried to talk some sense into Barret and Cid, for watching their words while Marlene was there. But sooner or later the girl would start picking it up anyways.

Cid finally, after being so stubborn, and in denial, admitted his feelings for Shera. They had alot more going on since Shera was pregnant already. Still living in the same house, Barret and Cid made the house bigger, building some new rooms with it, and a shed. Also, Cid was still busy making new planes, he said the HighWind gave them some good transport, but that it deserved a long life time break now.

Red still had Cosmo Canyon covered. Like he said, he'd take over Bugenhagen's work, and take care of his people. Strangely enough, not too long after the team settled down, Red told them about meeting a female of his race. Faye. The two had become close and not too long after the team heard about two young cubs. Of course, Marlene, Yuffie and Tifa couldn't stop aw-ing. Which made the guys laugh. The couldn't blame them. The two young cubs looked adorable. A male called Shadow, and a female called Payne.

Cait Sith got rid of the stuffed Mog. Now, it's just the simple cat running around on four legs. Going by the name Cait. He kind of is all over the place, but most of the time he's settled in Cosmo Canyon, with Red, Faye and the kids.

Now, as far as Cloud goes, he moved into his villa at Cost Del Sol. Everyone was surprised by this decision. Since they all were kinda suspicious on the fact Cloud and Tifa were a bit more than friends. Strangely enough it didn't bother Tifa too much. They called each other everyday. When they both got home from work. They were still the best of friends, but everyone still thought it was weird Cloud didn't just move back to Nibelheim with Tifa.

Cloud didn't know either. He wanted to go back there, so he could make sure Tifa was ok every day. But for some reason something stopped him from being too close to her. Maybe he realized he blew his chance with her. He noticed it in Tifa's eyes that day they defeated Sephiroth, and the Life-Stream fixed up the planet. She was going to start over. Without regret. She was over him... Cloud just knew he was too late now. She had accepted the fact they were friends. At least that's what he thought she did. And he didn't wanted to stop her from what she wanted to do with her life. Like he had been doing all this time.

"So, what may it be today?" the brunette asked, her hands resting on the counter.

"Same as usual."

"You got it." She moved away from the spike haired man to get him his drink. She pulled out a glass from under the counter and poured it half full with ice water, than moved over to another machine and finished of the glass with lemon juice and some ice cubes. "There you go." she said as she placed it in front of the man.

"Thanks."

She stared at him intently. Worried, yet not sure if she should be. "Cloud... How are you?" He gazed at her, as his hand moved over to the glass, and his fingers wrapped themselves around it and pulled it towards him.

"Huh?"

"Just a random question." she said, smiling warmly at him. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. You?" he said, taking a sip of his drink. Tifa moved herself over and got herself a drink, pulling the stool towards her and sat down on it.

"I'm doing good." She glanced around the bar. "The business are going great. My house is already looking pretty good. Vincent said he could take over some time if I'm ever sick or something. If not, he said Yuffie could cover it. But I'm not too sure about that." she said, laughing. "But yeah, I've got everything I need." she said with a satisfied look on her face.

_'"I've got everything I need." she doesn't need me...' _

"Cloud...?"

He met two chocolate brown eyes staring at him, slight concern showed in them. He shook his head with a puzzled look by finding the brunette staring at him. "Sorry." he said, rubbing his forehead. "I spaced off."

She narrowed her eyebrows, but let him off easy. "Alright." she said, nodding. "Well, since you're staying here the coming week. Why don't you just go upstairs and get some rest?"

"Yeah... I think I will." he said, standing up. Cloud made his way over, behind the bar, passed Tifa, to the door that led upstairs. His hand rested on the door knob as he turned it. "Tifa..." he said, looking over his shoulder slightly, before walking up.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

Tifa turned around, staring at him with a questioning look on her face. He returned her stare, as she nodded after a few seconds. Once again, Cloud returned the nod and made his way up, closing the door behind him.

He made the few steps up, and stopped in his tracks. _'Well damn... She sure put work in this place.' _He glanced around. The walls had a white, vanilla looking tint. A hardwood floor lay all through the house, and the closets, were all made of solid oak wood. The living room had a black leather couch, two black leather chairs, and a matching TV table, table and other furniture that stood there. With some light, curtains that matched the walls nicely. Cloud opened the door to his room that Tifa showed him earlier. Different than the living room, this room had a aqua-green/ black look. Everything matching each other. The bathroom had the sand color look, with white and again aqua towels. Tifa's room looked warm. Comfortable. With black and brown tints. But it definitely didn't look boring. All the beds in the house had satin sheets and pillows, with colors that matched the room. As her bed was red and black.

Cloud closed his door behind him, kicked off his boots and let himself fall on his bed, hiding his face into the pillow and falling into a light sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Alrighty! First chapter, it's short, and I can tell you the to come chapters aren't going to be much longer. Also, it's not gonna have too many chapters. Like I said, I'm still stuck with a writer's block. So I'm keeping it short, before I get stuck again. Hope ya like, please review.  
**-T. Lockheart.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Second chapter up. This one's got alot of Cloud and Tifa stuff going on. Cloud and Tifa only I might say. Just a chapter to get things going and something for me getting used to the VinTif idea... Hope ya enjoy it anyways. Again, short, but like I said, all the chapters will be. 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the song "Savin' Me" It belongs to Nickelback. I just used some lines from the lyrics in this chapter.

**A Love Remains Unspoken ..:  
****Chapter II  
****By: **_T.Lockheart_

"Where's Cloud?" The doors of the bar opened and a man in a dark red cloak walked in. Tifa glanced up from cleaning the glasses and almost getting done with locking the bar for the night. A slight smile appeared on her face as Vincent crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at the brunette.

"He went to bed. He acted kinda... Distracted. Could be that he was just tired though."

"To bed...?"

"Yeah, after arriving here. Seeing everyone again. Catching up with each other. Nibelheim... You know, some things take time to take in. He's probably tired." Tifa finished off the last glass and folded the cloth and placed it on the bar. She walked around the counter and went to put the "Closed" sign on the doors. "I think it's the whole... Being here thing again."

"Strange."

"Strange?" Tifa asked, looking up at Vincent.

"Yes."

She gave him a questioning look, and crossed her arms. "What do you mean, Vincent?"

"Go look for yourself." Vincent pointed at the window next to the doors. "He's sitting outside. At the well."

"...What?" Tifa glanced at the windows, than at thedoor that led upstairs, than overtothe bar doors. "I didn't see him walk out..."

"Apparently, he climbed out of the window. Therefor the reason I'm here. I saw Cloudwalking over the roof. I wasn't sure what to think." He turned and made his way over to the exit. "Well, Tifa, I'll be going home. Good night." the doors closed as the tall black haired man disappeared out of sight.

"Yeah... 'Night..." Still having her arms crossed over each other, she rubbed her bare upper arms, grabbed her vest that lay on the chair and pulled it over her shoulders. She slowly made her way over to the windows before going outside. Vincent was right. Cloud was sitting on top of the well. With his back against the dark wood, his on leg propped up, the other stretched out, and his gaze locked on the night sky. Tifa leaned against the wall while staring outside, and let out a sigh. _'Cloud... You never tell us anything...' _she sighed again and moved away from the window. She walked out and made her way softly over to the well. She didn't climb up, but stayed down instead.

"Cloud?" she asked softly. She saw a spiky headed face peek over the edge. As a small smile formed on her lips. "What are you doing?"

The face disppeared as Cloud sat back against the well again.

"Nothing." she heard. Tifa shook her head, and made her way up the well. As she walked closer to Cloud, he brought his gaze over to her. Tifa sat down next to him, and stared up at the sky, like Cloud did earlier. She nodded and glanced down.

"Nothing, huh?"

"Yep... Nothing." Cloud said, simply bringing his gaze up again.

"If you never tell us anything... Than how are we supposed to know? I'm not always gonna notice something's bothering you, you know?" Her browns were met by two ocean blue eyes, giving a puzzled expression. She stared at him for a slight second, than looked away, letting out a sigh. "You know what I'm talking about, Cloud."

"I don't. What do you mean, Tifa?"

**Prison gates won't open up for me.**

"You never tell us anything." She stared at him. "Ever." looking away she continued her story. "With every damn thing, we ask what's wrong, when something _is _wrong, you always say "Nothing" It's not nothing, Cloud. There is something but you just keep locking yourself up for us. For me. And why? We're always here for you aren't we?"

**On these hands and knees I'm crawling.  
****Oh, I reach for you.**

Cloud shook his head, and sighed. "You obviously seem to know me well enough to know something's wrong. Why don't you tell me. Since you act like you know me better." he said, looking at her.

"What...?"

"When _you _think something's wrong. Something always _has _to be wrong. That's not how things go, Tifa. Just because you think there is, doesn't mean there really is."

Tifa stared at him in disbelief. What was his problem? She was just trying to help him, make him open up to her like he did back that day in the life stream. They helped each other, and got through it. What made him say this all of a sudden?

"I'm just saying I think it's strange you won't let me help you. ...After all that we've been through." she said in a soft voice, not looking up from staring at the wood she was sitting on.

**Well I'm terrified of these four walls.  
****These iron bars can't hold my soul in,  
****All I need, is you.**

"What are you trying to get at, Tifa? Just because we're close friends, just because _you _think something's wrong, you have to know everything about me?"

Tifa closed her eyes, taking in the words that were said. She couldn't believe it. Everything was going great. Her bar was popular in town, not only Nibelheim but all over the world people knew her new bar. Nibelheim was finally filled with people again, and everyone she cared about was moving on, and living a great life. And last night she couldn't be more happy to hear her childhood friend was finally visiting the next day. Now that he was here... She wished he never came.

"You made your point, Cloud." she stood up, not showing the pain, the tears that filled her eyes. With her back turned at him, she stood, ready to go down. She felt dizzy. Her best friend... Was mad at her? How? Why? Cloud heard a sniffle. With his own eyes closed, he knew he snapped at her for no reason. 'Cause once again, she was right.

"I'm sorry for caring." she said in a weak, hurt voice.

"Tifa... I didn't mean it like th-"

**Come please, I'm calling.  
****And all I scream for you,  
****Hurry, I'm falling, I'm falling.**

All he heard was a loud thud. Cloud quickly turned around to see Tifa fell of the edge of the well. He rushed to the edge to grab her hand, but she landed on the ground already. He jumped off, and bend down next to Tifa, worried, concerned, and most of all confused about what just happened. "Tifa?" He asked. Though the brunette didn't respond. _'What the hell have I done...' _He picked her up from the ground, and walked her inside the bar. He moved behind the counter and walked her up the stairs, entering her bed room as he placed her on the bed. Cloud quickly made his way into the kitchen, getting a bowl of water and a cloth. He sat down next to her on the bed, pulled out the wet cloth and placed it carefully on her forehead. Staring at her intently, Cloud shook his head. "And you say I never tell people what's wrong..." He stood up, and left the room, closing the door softly behind him. A few minutes later he found himself sitting on the couch in Tifa's living room, lost in thought.

**Show me what It's like  
****To be the last one standing.  
****And teach me wrong from right  
****And I'll show you what I can be.**

_'You were always there for me. Even when everyone was devistated by Aeris' death... You kept the spirit in us to continue our battle. Even though you were about to break. You never showed anyone how much you hurt, how much you endure every single day. You are the only one who has the strength to pull everyone back up. Yet I scorned you. I don't know why I did it, Tifa... I want to tell you that I need you. That I want to be with you for the rest of my life. But I can't. It's not because I love another woman. The one who died for us... No. It's because I just can't get myself to say those three words. So simple. Yet so hard. I don't know what's wrong with me... Yet you notice something in me. Can you tell me what it is, Tifa? 'Cause I can't. _

Cloud shifted as he heard the door fall into the lock. He rubbed his eyes, as he got ready to sit up. _'Probably fell asleep on the couch.' _he though. Until a steel hand wrapped around his throat and pulled him up from the couch and bashed him against the wall, keeping him there on his throat. Cloud quickly opened his eyes, and was met by two crimson ones...


End file.
